Using Art to Study Climate Change?

From Time.com:  Art Used to Study Climate Change?

(LONDON) — The vivid sunsets painted by J.M.W. Turner are revered for their use of color and light and for their influence on the Impressionists. But could they also help global warming experts track climate change?

A group of scientists has studied the colors in more than 500 paintings of sunsets, including many of Turner's 19th-century watercolors and oils, in hopes of gaining insights into the cooling effects caused by major volcanic eruptions.

By better understanding past changes in climate, they hope to improve computer models for future climate change.

Christos Zerefos, who led the research at the National Observatory in Athens, said he believed it was the first scientific study of art for clues to climate variations.

For crying out loud.

This is what passes for science these days?

Next the climate change enthusiasts will get out their divining rods.  Or maybe they can study pig entrails for clues.

You never know.  Anything could be a sign!

Seriously, I could see why scientists might find it interesting to study old paintings that may have been created after volcanic activity.  But as a tool to predict future climate change, this seems clumsy in the extreme.

What, do we have too much climate change research money floating around?  I think I'm going to ask for a large grant to do a detailed analysis of the surprising direct correlation between the number of total blog entries posted worldwide and the ambient global air temperatures.  Given that the number of total blog entries has seen explosive growth, it's only a matter of time before the earth turns into a searing fireball.

Either that, or I'll use Google Earth to analyze condensation on windows of peoples' homes.  More condensation means cooler weather.  Therefore, if I can't see any condensation on anyone's windows (or even the windows themselves), it is a probable sign that we are experiencing runaway global warming.  Run!!

You may say my theories have gaping holes in them.  If my theories seem to lack logical cohesion, it is only because you lack sufficient imagination.

Move over, Al Gore.  My Nobel awaits.

Comments

[benning]

Following the eruption of Krakatoa, Turner painted the sunsets in England from the same spot, evening after evening. It's a good record of what the after-effects of the eruption did to the atmosphere. What any of that could say beyond the colors I don't know.

We know what the temps were, because the British took voluminous records in many, many places. This is just silliness. And it's probably well-subsidized, too